anorexics at the Gym

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I posted this a few months ago - http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/381336.page

I have not seen that woman come back. That person was positively anorexic. Not skinny, and not lean like an elite runner, but truly skeletal. You don't have to be skeletal to be anorexic, but that person really was just skin and bones.

PP is right that gyms are in the business of making money, and they are not in the business of health. It's sad, but it seems like a lot of gyms have one of these people.

So should gyms require a medical clearance to join? For every anorexic woman there are 10 people who are extremely overweight or smokers or have some other issue that puts them at a higher risk when working out. Should gyms also not allow a 300 pound person not to join because their weight puts them at a higher risk of having a heart attack on the treadmill?

It's tough and I see both sides. But I don't think it is as easy as "gyms are in the business of making money and should care more about health instead"

Someone who is 300 pounds is becoming healthier by going to the gym while someone who is 80 pounds is harming themselves. If the 300 pound person was showing signs of distress, absolutely the gym should step in.

This is not one of those tough calls where you can trot out other examples that are grey areas. These are extreme situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry OP. No matter how long you stay at the gym, you will never be thin and fit. Stop hating...you know they're not anorexic. That doesn't even make sense.

Keep your fat ass at home.

Beyond dumb.

[Anonymous]

Agree with PPs that we need a definition of what you think of as anorexic to really give an opinion. I'm very thin but am not at all anorexic. When I was nursing, I was down to 98 pounds at 5'5 with visible bones. I wasn't working out at all, but I imagine I might fall into your category at the gym. It would have been very hurtful to have been called out at the gym when they didn't know my personal and medical situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, they only look anorexic to you after you see yourself in the mirror after working out for 2 hours (and seeing no results).

LOL! OP here.

You have no clue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eating disorders -- including compulsive exercising -- have the highest death toll of any psychiatric illness. It is not the same as being over weight. A gym absolutely knows if someone is coming in for 6 hours a day or showing signs of compulsive exercising. And they have every right and responsibility to step in.

110 pounds may be super thin but I think with people with anorexia we're talking 80 pounds. Sure someone who is very thin could just be very thin and should be left alone but once someone gets down to emaciated -- and there is a big difference between 110 and 80 -- its another thing entirely. Gyms would step in when someone with a racing heart rate in aerobics class insisted on continuing, or if someone passed out and then got up and wanted to go on. These are private businesses and they have every right to do what they want including looking out for the health of their members.

I call BS on the whole concept of thin shaming and especially on comparing it to fat shaming. There is no way that in our culture thinness is considered shameful. And we're not talking about thinness anyway. I'm thin (and have suffered nothing because of it. Get real). Eating disorders are illnesses and are different.

And by the way, there are stories of gyms stepping in and saving lives. Gyms are particularly well placed to inquire and help someone with an eating disorder.

Are there that many 80 lb emaciated women at the gym (each and every random gym), fainting during every aerobics class? I figured OP was referring to 110 lb women, who must be more common.

OP here. You figured wrong. Everyone know the difference between thin and anorexic and anybody who regularly attends a gym knows exactly what I'm talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with PPs that we need a definition of what you think of as anorexic to really give an opinion. I'm very thin but am not at all anorexic. When I was nursing, I was down to 98 pounds at 5'5 with visible bones. I wasn't working out at all, but I imagine I might fall into your category at the gym. It would have been very hurtful to have been called out at the gym when they didn't know my personal and medical situation.

That sounds like a dangerously low bmi regardless of the reasons. If you were at the gym working out hard, then yes, there would be a problem there.

[Anonymous]

Of course the instinct is to want to help, but I really don't think gyms have the resources to do so. There are no medical professionals on staff. What do you imagine the gym manager is going to say? Excuse me, miss, but you look like you have an eating disorder, I need you to step away from the treadmill?

Overcoming an eating disorder is difficult and complicated, and getting banned from the gym is not going to be some magical wake-up call that puts someone on the path to recovery.

[Anonymous]

On a side note, I have seen anorexic women and men and for the life of me can't figure out how they can stay on the treadmill etc. for over an hour? You would think they would just pass out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry OP. No matter how long you stay at the gym, you will never be thin and fit. Stop hating...you know they're not anorexic. That doesn't even make sense.

Keep your fat ass at home.

You busted me! I want to look just like you, a bag of bones. So jealous! Being a size 4 is so hard, if only I could fit into children's clothes.

[Anonymous]

I'm with 7:54 - I occasionally see people at the gym who very likely do have a problem with anorexia, and it always makes me sad and worried. I find myself wondering if I should update my CPR certification in case something happens. There was a girl at my previous gym who would stay on an elliptical for over an hour. She was maybe 5'5", likely under 100 lbs, with an unhealthy pallor, dry, brittle hair and knee braces. Her thighs were thinner than her knees and her upper arms were thinner than her elbows. I got really sad every time I saw her. I don't know what happened to her - my guess is inpatient treatment or death.

Gyms have liability issues. If an anorexic person is allowed to excessively exercise and something happens, even the waiver they signed when they joined might not be enough to save the gym from litigation and/or bad press.

I'm a lean, healthy runner. While I could see myself fitting into jeans better if I lost the last 5 lbs of baby weight, I'll never be jealous of an unhealthily skinny person.

[Anonymous]

I don't understand why 12:31 posted pictures of a dangerously ill person. To make fun of her? Shameful.